The 2012 WGC-Accenture Match Play Champion admits he’s not being paid to promote this Canadian-based product, nor is he likely to. And he’s fine with that. Mahan has also become a poster boy on the brand’s website. He’s happy to tweet about the product’s virtues and had no issues taking time out of his busy schedule at the RBC Canadian Open to chat with me about it.

Sounds like the PGA Tour star has been sipping too much of the Kool-Aid right? Not exactly. He’s ‘drinking the pink.’

‘The pink’ is BioSteel, a quick-absorbing, high-performance sports drink developed by former Toronto Maple Leafs strength and conditioning coach Matt Nichol that has become a staple of Mahan’s day-to-day routine on tour. The product is a proprietary blend of five key amino acids, electrolytes and carbs essential for sustained energy, recovery and peak performance. Effectively, it’s a healthy, organic alternative to the myriad of sugar-based and caffeine drinks on the market today. It has no spikes or crashes.

In NHL dressing rooms for years, BioSteel has crossed over to the golf world in recent months where it has been met with resounding success. Several players, including Mahan and Luke Donald, now use the product religiously. Mahan can’t take credit for adding BioSteel to his equipment arsenal. Responsible for the hook-up was his agent Chris Armstrong.

“As an athlete and a golfer you’re always looking for something that keeps your mind and body in the best shape it can be,” Mahan explained to me. “You want to keep yourself at the highest level for the longest amount of time because when you play golf you’re out there for five hours, then you’ll go work out afterwards. BioSteel does that for me. As soon as I take it before I work out or go play I feel like this right amount of jolt. It gives me energy but it’s not a spike. It’s energy that keeps me going for a long time. It’s consistent. It’s natural enough it just becomes a part of you. There are so many pills and products out there today you don’t really know if they make a difference. I absolutely feel the difference with BioSteel. That’s why I wanted to get on board with it.”

Influencing Mahan was the heightened penetration BioSteel had with NHL players. Among the users in the league: Steven Stamkos, Carey Price, Mike Cammalleri, Tyler Seguin and Jeff Skinner.

“You pay attention to something like that because NHL players are some of the best athletes in the world from a physical and mental point of view,” Mahan said. “They’re amazing. Well if these guys are giving testimonials about it you want to explore the possibilities right? I mean you look at what I do. I’m out here in all kinds of weather, perspiring, sweating and working hard walking these fairways day after day. I want something I can count on.”

Armstrong, whose background is hockey, came across BioSteel through people he knew in the game. Impressing the head of Wasserman Group’s Canadian operations was the number of players swearing by the product. It was enough for him to start asking questions.

“Any athlete training for high performance can benefit from it,” Armstrong said. “We checked to make sure it complied with the PGA Tour’s anti-doping policy, which it did. From there we got some samples to Hunter and he loved it right away. We started exploring their plans in golf, started to look at player fit and engaged in a conversation. It’s an authentic product which is something we’re always striving to achieve for our athletes.”

BioSteel president John Celenza is excited by the opportunity golf provides. He told me the initial move into golf was pushed along by Cammalleri, now of the Calgary Flames, who was paired at a Champions Tour pro-am event a couple of years ago with Fred Couples.

“Mike struck up a friendship with Joe LaCava who was still caddying for Couples at the time,” Celenza said. “He gave some product to Joe and he and Fred used it during that round. Joe still uses it now. As a matter of fact we have a lot of caddies using it. That was our initiation into golf. Joe LaCava was our first connection.”

Celenza says the benefits to golfers – professional or amateur – are obvious.

“You don’t want to be shaking when you’re hitting a golf ball,” he said. “That’s what a lot of these sugar-based drinks do. You crash and burn. What you want out there is consistent energy levels. You want to be calm and focused. Hunter and Chris deserve credit for expanding our golf opportunity.

“Webb Simpson was seen drinking the pink as well and it was BioSteel he was drinking. Since he’s won a lot of guys on tour have been asking him, ‘Hey, what’s that pink stuff.’ There is a big buzz about it in golf community.”

BioSteel already has garnered serious traction. Celenza says the products are in half the teams in Major League Baseball, half the teams in the NBA, three-quarters of NHL teams and was the sport drink of choice for Athletics Canada at the London Olympic Games. To date, the company says more than 30 PGA Tour players are using BioSteel. It is also working with Golf Canada and some of its high performance athletes including former Canadian Amateur champion Albin Choi.

“We’ll also be doing a blitz of national pro shops and in a couple of months we’ll be rolling out in Golf Town,” Celenza said. “The other initiative we’re excited about is we just signed a deal with Core Golf Academy where Sean Foley is based in Orlando. They’re bringing in the product as well.”

Sports drink is an area of business where Mahan says he’s free to do whatever he wants. He’s pleased to be part of Team BioSteel.

“Like I said it’s actually not something anyone is paying me to do or anything,” he said. “BioSteel is simply a product I’m happy to be part of. In terms of business we’ll figure out the best play for everybody at this point. They’re definitely getting this into the right hands of athletes from all kinds of sports. They’re creating a solid base there. It’s only a matter of time for golf.”